1. Never, as long as you live, ever have mail delivered to your door again. Use a PO Box for personal letters and bills and a secret “ghost” address for sensitive mail such as passport delivery, real estate tax notices, and statements from faraway banks.
2. Despite the inconvenience, do not have pizza delivered to your door. If you allow that to happen even one time, any PI can get the address by calling the pizza company, pretending to be you, and asking what address is on file for your telephone number.
3. This one is difficult, but never allow an envelope or a package to be delivered to your home address. FedEx is said to share its files with the U.S. government and both FedEx and UPS tie your name to your home address in their databases.
4. Do not give your home address to a dentist, a doctor, a hospital, a car dealer, an optometrist, a supermarket (for the card), or to anyone else.
5. Do not allow your home address to be included on your driver’s license. Many if not all DMVs sell their lists to third parties. (In some states, they may require your home address for their records but will allow you to have a PO Box address printed on your license.)
BENEFIT: If someone knocks when you are not expecting a friend, why worry? It can’t be the mail carrier, the FedEx or UPS person, the pizza guy, or anyone else you need to talk to, right? You might even wish to put this sign on your front door:
KNOCK ALL YOU
WANT. WE DO NOT
ANSWER THE DOOR
The above information is taken from
How to Be Invisible (Saint Martins Press).
Labels: FedEx, ghost address, mail privacy, pizza delivery, PO Box, privacy tips, secret delivery, secret home address, secret mail, UPS
Privacy blog post by JJ Luna at 12:02 AM
